Serving Utensil Holder

ABSTRACT

A Serving Utensil Holder made of any material approved for food service. The holder has a 90 degree flange base, round base, hook base or flat base. 
     The base is connected to stationary or adjustable shaft with top end fitted with a utensil holder attachment to hold various types, and sizes of food serving utensils. The 90 degree base and round base have a vertical edge and fit in the well of a buffet line server. The top of the base rest on flat area around the buffet server well. 
     Flat base holder is used on flat areas and can have a bowl for drippings from serving utensil. The hook base enables the utensil Holder to hook on edge of buffet server well to stabilize it without fasteners. Attachments can be permanently made on shaft, or fixed with fasteners allowing other attachments to be used on the same utensil holder.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S.provisional patent application, Ser. No. 61/935,149, filed Jan. 31,2015, for SERVING UTENSIL HOLDER, by Bernard Knight Sr., included byreference herein and for which benefit of the priority date is herebyclaimed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to cooking and food serving utensils and,more particularly, a stand that holds spoons, ladles, tongs, and variouscooking and food serving utensils to keep them from contamination bybeing left on counters, stove tops or in serving pans with the food.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Spoons, ladles, tongs, and other serving utensils used in the commercialfood service are either left in the food pan or on buffet counters whichin both cases increase the chances of the utensil being contaminated andthus contaminating the food.

Some in the food service industry have made attempts to elevate thisproblem by creating serving spoon rests, which are small bowls or traysthat hold the serving utensil keeping them from being left in cookingcontainers, on stoves, on food servers, countertops or tables when theutensil is not being used. Such examples are patent application numbersU.S. 29/195,746, and U.S. 29/152,455.

Another product is a small pan that attaches to the side of a foodserver and hold the serving utensil. A third product is devices thatclips on to the cooking pot enabling the serving utensil to be attached,and thus keeps it from resting in food, on stoves, tables, orcountertops.

These products may work in home settings or on small buffet lines, butthey are not practical to use on most commercial food serving lines suchas those in schools, hospitals, cafeterias, restaurants, etc. Because ofthe variety of foods on a buffet line requiring separate servingutensils, there is not enough counter space to accommodate separatespoon rests for each type of food.

A short coming of the tray type spoon holder that clips on to the sideof pots is impractical on most commercial buffet serving lines becausemany of them have steam wells with serving pans with no place to place aclip-on type spoon holder.

A short coming of some spoon holders that clip onto the pot itself isthat they can only be used on chafer serving lines and will not fit onpans or trays used on most conventional serving lines with steam wells.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a holder for foodserving utensils.

It is another object of the invention to keep food serving utensils fromcontamination from being left on countertops, tables, stoves or othersurfaces.

It is another object of the invention to provide a holding place forfood serving utensils when they are not being used in serving food.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a ServingUtensil Holder made of stainless steel or any material, metal, plastic,or composite that is approved to be used in the food service industry.The serving utensil holder has either a 90 degree flanged base, 90degree flanged hook base, round flanged base, or flat base, having ashaft and utensil holder attachment. The vertical edge of the flangefits inside the wall of the well of a buffet line server and the tophorizontal area of the flange rest on the top flat area around the wellof the buffet line server.

A flat base type allows the serving utensil holder to be used on anyflat surface whether on a counter or stove in a home setting or on acommercial buffet line. The serving utensil holder with the hook baseenables the holder to hook on to the inside top edge of buffet lineserver's well and stabilize it without fasteners. These various typebases are connected a shaft which can be stationary or made to adjust toaccommodate the oaring size and heights of each serving utensil itholds. The top end of the shaft is fitted with a utensil holderattachment designed to hold different types and sizes of food servingutensils. These attachments can be fixed permanently on to the shaft, orsecured to the shaft with a fastener allowing attachments to be removedand exchanged with other types of utensil holder attachments toaccommodate various food serving utensils.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained byreference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunctionwith the subsequent, detailed description, in which:

FIG. 1 is a right perspective view of a serving utensil holder type awith 90 degree flange base having a serving utensil attachment inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a left perspective view of a serving utensil holder type awith 90 degree flange base;

FIG. 3 is a top elevation view of a serving utensil holder type a with90 degree flange base showing exploded view of utensil holderattachment;

FIG. 4 is a right view of a serving utensil holder type b with 90 degreeflange base;

FIG. 5 is a right view of a serving utensil holder type b with 90 degreeflange base having a serving utensil attachment holding a food servingutensil;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a serving utensil holders type a and b on abuffet line with 90 degree flange bases and holding food servingutensils;

FIG. 7 is a right view of a serving utensil holder type a with flat basehaving bowl seated on the base;

FIG. 8 is a right view of a serving utensil holder type b with flat basehaving bowl seated on the base;

FIG. 9 is a right view of a serving utensil holder type a with roundflange base; and

FIG. 10 is a right exploded view of a serving utensil holder hookflange.

For purposes of clarity and brevity, like elements and components willbear the same designations and numbering throughout the Figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a right view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 in accordance withthe invention, showing a 90 degree flange base 5, Shaft 4, Utensilholder attachment A 2 and a utensil holder connection Fastener 3.

FIG. 2 is a left view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 having a 90 degreeflange base 5 in which the bottom vertical edge of the flange base 5goes inside the well of a buffet line server 12 and secured to well withclamp or Fastener 3. The top horizontal area of the flange base 5 reston the area around the well of the buffet line server 12. The top end ofthe Shaft 4 has a Utensil holder attachment A 2 of varied sorts which isconnected by a utensil holder connection fastener 3 or a screw, howeverthe Utensil holder attachment A 2 can also be made on to the Shaft 4 asone piece where as a screw or fastener 3 may not be necessary. TheUtensil holder attachment A 2 is designed to hold various food servingutensil 7 keeping them suspended so that they are not left on surfacesor in the food.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 showing a more detailview of the Utensil holder attachment A 2, the Shaft 4 and 90 degreeflange base 5.

FIG. 4 is a right view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 having Utensilholder attachment B 6.

FIG. 5 is a right view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 having Utensilholder attachment B 6 holding a food serving utensil 7.

FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 withUtensil holder attachment A 2 and Utensil holder attachment B 6 on abuffet line server 12 holding food serving utensil 7. It shows the Foodserving pan 8 seated on top of the 90 degree flange base 5 of theServing Utensil Holder 1.

FIG. 7 is a right view Serving Utensil Holder 1 having Utensil holderattachment A 2, having a flat base 9, which enables the Serving UtensilHolder 1 to be used on any flat surfaces, flat base 9 can be fitted witha Bowl 10 to catch food dripping from food serving utensil 7.

FIG. 8 is a right view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 having Utensilholder attachment B 6, and a flat base 9 which enables the ServingUtensil Holder 1 to be used on any flat surface.

FIG. 9 is a right view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 having Utensilholder attachment A 2, with a rounded flange base 5, which enables theServing Utensil Holder 1 to be seated and secured in buffet line server12 steam wells having round or oval corners or any steam well serversusing round serving pans. The bottom vertical edge of the Round base 11goes inside the well of a buffet line server 12 and the top horizontalarea of the round base 11 rest on the flat area around the well of thebuffet line server 12. After the Serving Utensil Holder 1 is seated intothe buffet line server 12 well, round serving pans are seated on top ofthe Round base 11.

FIG. 10 is a right exploded view of a Serving Utensil Holder 1 hook base13 which enables the Serving Utensil Holder 1 to hook on to the top edgeof buffet line server 12 well to stabilize it without fastener 3.

Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operatingrequirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in theart, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen forpurposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications whichdo not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of thisinvention.

Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected byLetters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A serving utensil holder for holding cooking andfood serving utensils, comprising: means for holding food servingutensils and keeping them from contamination from counter tops or othersurfaces and from being left in food; means for securing various servingfood utensils to shaft of serving utensil holder; means for providingsupport between base and utensil holder attachment and adjusting heightof the utensil holder, rigidly connected to said means for securingvarious serving food utensils to shaft of serving utensil holder; meansfor securing various attachments to the top of the serving utensilholder; means for seating serving utensils inside of buffet servers withsquare corners; means for holding various food serving utensils, rigidlyconnected to said means for providing support between base and utensilholder attachment and adjusting height of the utensil holder; means forallowing serving utensil to be used on counter tops or flat surfaces,rigidly connected to said means for providing support between base andutensil holder attachment and adjusting height of the utensil holder;means for catching food or liquid dropping from serving utensil, rigidlyconnected to said means for allowing serving utensil to be used oncounter tops or flat surfaces; means for allowing serving utensil holderto be seated in round or oval steam wells on buffet lines, rigidlyconnected to said means for providing support between base and utensilholder attachment and adjusting height of the utensil holder; and meansfor allowing the serving utensil holder base to hook on the inside edgeof the well of a buffet line server to stabilize it without fasteners.2. The serving utensil holder in accordance with claim 1, wherein saidmeans for holding food serving utensils and keeping them fromcontamination from counter tops or other surfaces and from being left infood comprises a serving utensil holder.
 3. The serving utensil holderin accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for securing variousserving food utensils to shaft of serving utensil holder comprises anutensil holder attachment a.
 4. The serving utensil holder in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said means for providing support between base andutensil holder attachment and adjusting height of the utensil holdercomprises a shaft.
 5. The serving utensil holder in accordance withclaim 1, wherein said means for securing various attachments to the topof the serving utensil holder comprises a fastener.
 6. The servingutensil holder in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means forseating serving utensils inside of buffet servers with square cornerscomprises a flange base.
 7. The serving utensil holder in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said means for holding various food servingutensils comprises an utensil holder attachment b.
 8. The servingutensil holder in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means forallowing serving utensil to be used on counter tops or flat surfacescomprises a flat base.
 9. The serving utensil holder in accordance withclaim 1, wherein said means for catching food or liquid dropping fromserving utensil comprises a bowl.
 10. The serving utensil holder inaccordance with claim 1, wherein said means for allowing serving utensilholder to be seated in round or oval steam wells on buffet linescomprises a round base.
 11. The serving utensil holder in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said means for allowing the serving utensil holderbase to hook on the inside edge of the well of a buffet line server tostabilize it without fasteners comprises a hook base.
 12. A servingutensil holder for holding cooking and food serving utensils,comprising: a serving utensil holder, for holding food serving utensilsand keeping them from contamination from counter tops or other surfacesand from being left in food; an utensil holder attachment a, forsecuring various serving food utensils to shaft of serving utensilholder; a shaft, for providing support between base and utensil holderattachment and adjusting height of the utensil holder, rigidly connectedto said utensil holder attachment A; a fastener, for securing variousattachments to the top of the serving utensil holder; a flange base, forseating serving utensils inside of buffet servers with square corners;an utensil holder attachment b, for holding various food servingutensils, rigidly connected to said shaft; a flat base, for allowingserving utensil to be used on counter tops or flat surfaces, rigidlyconnected to said shaft; a bowl, for catching food or liquid droppingfrom serving utensil, rigidly connected to said flat base; a round base,for allowing serving utensil holder to to be seated in round or ovalsteam wells on buffet lines, rigidly connected to said shaft; and a hookbase, for allowing the serving utensil holder base to hook on the insideedge of the well of a buffet line server to stabilize it withoutfasteners.
 13. A serving utensil holder for holding cooking and foodserving utensils, comprising: a serving utensil holder, for holding foodserving utensils and keeping them from contamination from counter topsor other surfaces and from being left in food; an utensil holderattachment a, for securing various serving food utensils to shaft ofserving utensil holder; a shaft, for providing support between base andutensil holder attachment and adjusting height of the utensil holder,rigidly connected to said utensil holder attachment A; a fastener, forsecuring various attachments to the top of the serving utensil holder; aflange base, for seating serving utensils inside of buffet servers withsquare corners; an utensil holder attachment b, for holding various foodserving utensils, rigidly connected to said shaft; a flat base, forallowing serving utensil to be used on counter tops or flat surfaces,rigidly connected to said shaft; a bowl, for catching food or liquiddropping from serving utensil, rigidly connected to said flat base; around base, for allowing serving utensil holder to to be seated in roundor oval steam wells on buffet lines, rigidly connected to said shaft;and a hook base, for allowing the serving utensil holder base to hook onthe inside edge of the well of a buffet line server to stabilize itwithout fasteners.